WHO WE ARE

Sod House Theater brings people together through playful collaboration to create immersive, community-engaged theater and space for public dialogue and action. We envision a Minnesota in which everyone has access to specialized theater training and performance, and where theater art becomes a driver for community engagement, relationship building, economic growth, problem solving, and transformation. We seek to bridge differences and inspire connections through theater rooted in community.

WHAT SETS US APART, MAKES US UNIQUE

Sod House Theater brings people from all backgrounds and perspectives together through playful collaboration to create immersive, community-engaged theater. Our unique way of working in partnership bridges differences, inspires connections, and brings performance opportunities to communities of all sizes. In each location we visit, we craft an original production that moves, inspires, and reflects the stories and issues of the area. We work collaboratively with our artistic and community partners to bring the production to life. This organic, egalitarian model unleashes potential and creates space for public dialogue and action.

 WHAT GUIDES OUR WORK

• We value the right to artistic experiences and performance opportunities, no matter where we live.

• We value bringing artists from all backgrounds together to share talents and passions with each other and with audiences.

• We value work that is site-specific, immersive, and breaks down traditional barriers amon artists and audiences.

• We value our community and artistic partners whose diverse stories drive our work.

• We value stories that move and inspire.

WHAT WE’VE DONE

Our key activities are the plays we produce, the process by which they are created, and the workshops and educational programs we offer to promote the empowerment of local artists in the towns where we hold our residencies. Sod House has produced ten productions in its eight-year history, selected for their themes of relevance to greater Minnesota communities. Bookending this run of work, for context, is our first production,The Cherry Orchard, a production that appeared in towns including Little Falls, Kenyon, and Worthington, and which was chosen for its classic status and its exploration of ideas of rural land ownership, stewardship, and heritage, (particularly relevant in light of the farm foreclosures that gripped our state in 2009). Our most recent, Enemy of the People, has appeared in fifteen communities over the past three years and addressed issues of protecting environmental resources and the nature of the public good amid the manipulation of news and opinion.